I stopped bringing a bottle to birthdays. What I bring now is still in their freezer a year later.
Twenty minutes before the party, standing in the shop, choosing by the label. It gets opened that evening, it is gone before pudding, and by Monday nobody remembers who brought what.
The bottle you bring gets opened at the door and finished at the table. That is the whole life of it.
It is a lovely evening and then it is over. The host says thank you, the glasses go in the dishwasher, and the present has already been drunk. A nicer bottle meets the same end, only faster. Flowers last a week. A wine fridge is too big and too much. The little something from the shelf by the till goes in a drawer.
The bottle was never the wrong idea. It was just finished too soon. The test for a present to someone who has everything is not what it costs. It is whether it is still in use next birthday.
Why a bottle goes warm on the table, and what fixes it
Everything people use to keep wine cold works from the outside. The fridge, the ice bucket, the sleeve from the drawer: cold has to fight its way through the glass before it reaches the wine, and once the bottle is on the table the room starts winning.
Cold that starts inside the wine has no distance to travel. A frozen rod of 304 food-grade stainless steel goes down the neck of the bottle they have already opened. It brings the wine to serving temperature in 10 to 15 minutes and holds it there for up to three hours, and the spout on top airs each pour on the way to the glass. That is the present. Lindner & Co make it.
See how it works →
It lives in their freezer door. Nothing to charge, nothing to refill.
What happens after they unwrap it
- It goes in the freezerAbout an hour the first time. Most people simply leave it there, so it is ready the day a bottle gets opened.
- Into the open bottleThe first glass gets poured, the frozen rod goes in. Serving temperature in 10 to 15 minutes, then it holds for up to three hours on the table.
- Pour through the spoutThe spout airs the wine as it pours and does not drip. The bottle stays on the table instead of going back to the kitchen.
Next birthday it is still there. That is the difference between a bottle and this.
Three things people ask before giving it
It is a sealed rod of 304 stainless steel. No motor, no battery, no gel. Cold steel goes into the wine and the wine gets cold. That is all it does, and it does it every time.
Standard 750 ml bottles, screwcaps included. The rubber collar takes the neck, the stopper seals it when the evening is over.
It arrives as two complete kits. One is the present. The other goes in your own freezer, which is how most people find out they wanted one as well.
Two complete kits: 2 chilling rods, 2 aerating spouts, 2 stoppers. One wrapped for the birthday, one that stays in your own freezer.
Sort the birthday →✓ Free UK delivery · ✓ 30-day money-back guarantee · ✓ 4.7/5 · 1,422 reviews
What the people who gave it say
"Gave one to my sister for her fortieth and kept the other. She rang me from the garden a week later to say the bottle was still cold at the second glass."
Helen R. · Verified purchase"Bought it for my dad, who is not a gadget person at all. He sent me a photo of it in his freezer door. First present I've given him that he actually uses."
Emily R. · Verified purchaseThat's 4.7 out of 5 across 1,422 reviews.
Next birthday, the bottle is forgotten. This is still in the freezer.
About an hour in the freezer, 10 to 15 minutes in the bottle, cold on the table for up to three hours. Buy one, get one free: one to wrap, one to keep.
Get two kits — one to wrap →Orders placed today ship tomorrow.